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Chapter Text

Phantom hisses has he finished absorbing Vlad's ghost half. Plasmius had put up quite the fight, but Phantom has always been stronger than him. He glances at the terrified completely human Vlad before staring at his dead human half. Danny didn't understand that he literally couldn't live without Phantom, or maybe he did and didn't care, but either way he died as soon as Phantom was completely removed. He can't recall Danny's final thought, simply his depression and deep grief leading up to his decision. It bothers Phantom, but it's hard to focus as he feels his and Plasmius's obsessions flexing and fight.

"Dan.n..n.." Vlad can't get the dead kid's name out. He pulls Danny into his arms and can't seem to decide if he should stare at the corpse or his ghost. His voice is barely a whisper when he asks. "What have I done, little badger?"

Phantom can taste the pure grief and despair pouring off the man. It's pitiable. This man was so obsessed with Maddie's love, revenge against Jack, and adopting and controlling Danny that Phantom isn't sure what he'll do now that every single one of them are dead. Danny by his own hand. There is nothing Phantom can do that would make Vlad suffer more than letting him live. There is no revenge for Phantom to enact, so Vlad's revenge obsession has no hold on him.

Danny deserved better than what he got. Both in life and death. He wishes he could have protected him. And wishes he could give him and Jazz the love and attention they wanted from their parents. They had both shouldered too many responsibilities.

His core seems to solidify in a way he hadn't realized it wasn't as his new obsessions slotted into place. Danny's protection obsession evolving to be more focused on family and Vlad's obsession with making Danny his son added making Jazz his daughter became Phantom's new purpose for existing and they feel like they're crushing his core. He has no family left and everyone is dead, his obsessions are incompatible with reality...

Unless he learns to time travel. Maybe Frostbite knows something?

That thought settles his core. He's not sure if he still has an ice core, but he's willing to risk it to see his friend. Frostbite seems to know everything and be willing to explain most of it when asked.

Besides if his parents could make a portal to a dimension of undead and neverborn, than surely he can figure out how to travel back in time. He can see Jazz and Danny again! He will destroy anyone who hurts them when he get to them, even his parents.

Yes. Phantom has some planning to do.

Phantom ignores how Vlad flinches away when Phantom draws near him and Danny. The ghost gently brushes Danny's hair from his face, taking in his Danny's face one last time and giving the boy he was a silent goodbye. He knows he'll never see him again. The Danny he plans to save will never be this Danny. He'll make sure of it.

When he's satisfied, he leaves through Vlad's ghost portal without a word to the distraught man. Phantom hopes living hurts the sole living survivor like walking on glass til he finally dies completely.

Chapter Text

It took Phantom nearly 20 years in the Realms, but he's finally convinced the Ancient of Time to help send him to his new life!

Originally Phantom asked Frostbite, but the yeti refused to help when he realized Phantom's age. Frostbite had wanted to look at Phantom's core to make sure it was settled after absorbing Plasmius. He wasn't as shocked and appalled by Phantom's actions like he feared on the long flight over, apparently it's not terribly unusual for ghosts to absorb or fuse with other ghosts. It's not necessarily healthy, but it's accepted as a thing that happened when something traumatic happens. No, that's not what horrified Frostbite into not helping. It was the fact Phantom was technically only a year old. The yeti had apparently never looked at the age markers on his core when the ghost was a halfa.

That's how Phantom found out that most of the ghosts thought he was MUCH older. He got a lot of apologies when word got out that they had been fight with a new born, who had no ghostly mentor/parent to show him the ropes. Most ghosts form in the Infinity Realms and are adopted promptly by an older ghost to teach them about all their new instincts and explain anything they have questions on. Danny hadn't had that and so Phantom had to awkwardly explain Danny had no idea what most of them were doing or why and had an unhealthy "work"/ life balance, but started to just roll with the punches, literally most of the time. The ghosts were devastated to know he didn't know that most of them just wanted to play and he could say no at anytime. He then had to awkwardly explain with all the grace of the moody teenager he currently looks like that while Danny/Phantom didn't know, they still usually had fun.

It did make a bunch of ghost panic over who the hell can parent an infant that fought and won against THE Ghost King. It only got worse when they learned his core isn't ice, but mimicry. It suddenly made sense that Danny/Phantom kept gaining powers and why he could smother Plasmius's plasma core so easily and completely. It made him a scary baby.

That's when Clockwork appeared. He volunteered a bit too happily to the absolutely terrified ghosts around. It made Phantom suspicious, but ultimately agrees because Frostbite encourages him to accept, and because Clockwork bribes him with seeing Jazz and Danny again. It's a low blow to use his obsession against him like that, but it's effective.

Clockwork is a very patient, if cryptic mentor, and later parent, as he teachers Phantom about the Realms, ghost nature, his core's abilities, and even some small time powers. Phantom is sent on many time missions in a new dimension, the dimension Phantom will reunite with his core's obsession. First he must help nudge people in the right direct for superheroes to be made. More heroes will keep his Fraid safe in the long run. Jazz will love to psychoanalyze them all and Danny will be thrilled about there being aliens on earth when he's old enough to fall in love with space. Phantom really enjoys the ways he helps Clockwork shape the dimension.

Phantom is less happy that Clockwork forces him to claim his rightful title of Ghost King. A process that should have been him accepting the crown of flames and ring of rage, but somehow ends with Phantom having to absorb Pariah Dark. The Observants had showed up and demanded Phantom REbeat Pariah Dark because he "didn't beat him using just [Phantom]'s powers" and they want him to prove himself worthy. Well, Phantom isn't the bright child he was when he first fought the old king. No, Phantom is darker, stiffer, grumpier (if you ask his ex-rouges). He's also stronger by a long shot. Pariah didn't stand a chance, but the whole thing stressed Phantom out enough he basically ate him like he did Plasmius. The main difference is Phantom had a teenage core and teens don't like you messing with their world view too much. So while Plasmius was smothered and had bits of his obsession added to Phantom's, Pariah's everything was crashed to dust til only his power remained. It's extremely annoying to Phantom that the combination of absorbing Pariah and accepting the Crown and Ring gave Phantom a power boost that takes him the better part of 5 years to learn to control.

Phantom fights to keep himself stable over the years by using the mantra "If I do [insert task], then Jazz and Danny will be safer or better provided for." It mostly works, but his core still cries out for his Fraid. Even when Clockwork is accepted as his parent by his core, he can only sooth him so much. Clockwork is not who he NEEDS.

Clockwork knows this and starts sending Phantom to plant "evidence" of a Dante Phantom existence leading up to the point of time Clockwork said he'd drop him into the time line. It's when Danny is a mere 3 year old. In this world Jack and Maddie are even worse about lab safety, dosing their children with even more ectoplasm than in Phantom's original timeline. Clockwork warned him that both Jazz and Danny will be Halfa before Danny is 5. That gives Phantom, or rather "Dante", time to get a foster license and gather all the proof he need to remove the kids from their "parent's care". Phantom can't remember if Jazz was treated in his dimension the same way the one in this one is, like a mini nurse maid for Danny, but it makes a lot of sense if it was the case. She had been closer to a parent in all his memories than their parents had been, up until she turned 14 and was embarrassed by anything to do with her family. It had hurt, but he understood, especially when he became the same way around 14.

Jazz won't have to be a tiny adult this time. She will probably still be too mature, but he's going to stop the parentification as soon as he can. He's been reading every single child psychology book he can get his hands on, both human and ghost, to best raise his soon to be children. She WILL get to be a child.. and she will also be happy that someone can talk about her special interest, possibly soon to be obsession.

The plan is that "Dante" will start going to college for culinary arts (to better feed his kids) and business (so he can run his own shop when he skips town so the Fenton don't try to find him and the kids) and working (to pay for college and his apartment), both things will help create a fuller paper trail and Clockwork will nudge the Fentons into his path regularly so he can "befriend" Jack and Maddie. He doesn't want to deal with them, especially now that he's a full ghost, but he need to be able to gain evidence of their neglect so Dante can foster to adopt his children. He spent a lot of time practicing to make himself look and behave more human. Luckily, Metas and aliens are a thing in this universe, so any slip ups can be covered up as one of those instead of supernatural. He just has to keep the more obvious supernatural traits hidden.

"Good luck, Dan." Dante blinks at Clockwork's sudden use of a nickname. It's extremely unusual and Dante isn't sure how he feels about the nickname itself. It sounds a bit too close to Danny and Dante isn't that boy. Dante is someone new and not good. He's not the ghost boy who played hero.

"Thanks, Dad." The two ghosts hug goodbye before Dante steps through a portal into his new, sparsely furnished apartment. "Don't be a stranger."

"We shall see each other soon enough." Clockwork smiles lightly and closes the portal.

"He's still a weird fucker." Dan sighs. He checks his reflection one last time, making sure his shoulder length white hair isn't floating or flaming or liquid or fogging and no inhuman glowing anywhere, before heading out the door. He timed it so he could go directly to his first day as a waiter and not mope around his apartment or be tempted to hunt down the Fentons to see his babies. It's certainly a distracting experience. Between learning the ropes and having people scared of his frowns and scowls or being TOO into him (he grew to Jack's height and filled out quite a bit with muscle), it distracts him completely for all 8 hours of his shift.

Over his first week his coworkers quickly start sending him to tables with young children, noticing his frowns soften and he almost smiles at those tables (he can't help it, they make him think of his kids and are usually pretty cute too), or the tables filled with sexist assholes, his scowls usually get the, generally, men to behave. A 7ft scowling man is very intimidating, but he can't bring himself to really care about being personable. He's here to do his job and that's it. Surprisingly, his coworkers warm up to him anyways.

It's mid way into his second week in the dimension, he finally runs into the Fentons on his way home from his second day of classes. Literally. Jack smashes into him as he arounds a corner, knocking them both to the floor.

"Jack!" "Daddy!?" Maddie and Jazz sound very concerned.

Jack starts laughing, as if he couldn't have seriously hurt someone. "I didn't see you there."

"I'm hard to miss." Dante scowls while picking himself up, because he really is, between his size and coloration. Alas Jazz did raise him with some manners, and he has to "befriend" them, so he offers Jack a hand. He easily pulls Jack to his feet, causing the Fentons to realize Dante is as tall, if not slightly taller than Jack, a very uncommon thing to see.

"Haha! Yeah! Sorry!" Jack's laugh is both bright and awkward.

"Are you okay, Mister?" A tiny 5 year old Jazz asks from her spot next to Maddie. Danny is asleep uncomfortably in a glowing stroller. Dante is a little scared to learn what it's designed to do. It can't be healthy for baby liminal Danny to be sleeping in since Jazz is clearly avoiding touching the monstrosity.

"I'm fine, sweetheart." Is rolling off his tongue before he can process, so he rolls with it, letting the full force of his mid-western accent out. Dante also tries to be less intimidating by hunching slightly and smiling a bit. Smiling doesn't come as naturally to him anymore. "Your da just should've been slower going around the corner. Luckily, I've eaten all my veggies and gotten big and strong, huh?"

"Good one!" Jack laughs, and poor Jazz looks like she has no idea how to respond.

"I eat my veggies?"

"Jazz is very good about clearing her plate." Maddie says proudly, as if she doesn't forget to feed her children regularly and therefore they can't afford to waste food over something like dislike at this age. "I'm Maddie, my husband Jack, and our children Jazz and Danny. Sorry about Jack running into you. He gets over excited at times."

Jack shouts cheerfully, "That I do!"

"Dante. Nice to meet you." Dante lies. He'd just kidnap Jazz and Danny if he could, but this universe's heroes would definitely take issue with him doing that, so he has to do this whole thing the legal way.

"Are you new around town?" Maddie asks, clearly knowing the answer already. Amity Park isn't small, but it isn't large either. Most people at least vaguely know who everyone is.

"Yes. I'm going to the local university for their culinary courses." Dante offers. "And you?"

"Maddie and I are Ecto-Biologists!" Jack booms.

"Huh? I'm not sure I've heard of such science." Dante fabricates curiosity. "What is it?"

"It's the science of ghosts and what they're made of." Maddie explains, and Jazz makes a face. It lets Dante know she's being teased at school for her parents' already.

"Ghosts?"

Jack launches into a complicated and almost completely inaccurate explanation of Denizens with Maddie adding random tidbits. The things they got right are twisted back around into being incorrect. It was highly annoying, but Dante keeps his face neutral. Jazz looks more and more upset as time goes on and fidgeting like her feet hurt. He can't do anything to help just yet without seeming weird, but they're both saved after about 30 to 40 minutes by Danny waking up and fussing.

"Sorry to cut this short," Dante isn't sorry at all, "but it seems like your kids are hungry and tired."

The negligent parents finally notice their kids unhappiness. "Oh dear!"

"Why don't I carry you, Jazzrincess?" Jack beams and scoops the poor girl up. "How far was the restaurant again?"

"Just a block away." Maddie smiles, sickeningly in love. But that might be his dislike, bordering on hate he's slowly developing over the years. "We must be off. It was a pleasure talking to you, Dante."

"I'm sure I'll see you around." Tilting a head towards Jack's everything, getting amused looks and Jack laughing again. He starts to continue walking to his apartment with a forced relaxed posture.

His core is elated to see Jazz and Danny and devastated he has to walk away. It's overwhelming and painful, but he has to deal. He will get his kids. And it'll be completely legal so no one can take them from him. He can do this. Just suck it up, Phantom.

Chapter Text

Dante has been in this new dimension for just under a year and everything has been going smoothly. Or as smoothly as it can given the circumstances as a ghost fighting to keep level headed without having full access to his obsession's targets and having to deal with the smartest yet dumbest ghost hunters known to mankind. He ran into them as often as Clockwork promised til a "natural friendship" formed between him and the adult Fentons. He lets it happen so he can see Jazz and Danny. The kids are liminal enough to sense he genuinely enjoys to see and interact with them, and it makes them fully latch onto him. It helps that he feeds them whenever he sees them. He brings food over regularly to their house and always has some sort of snack on him if he sees them out and about. He puts his culinary classes to good use for them. He's pretty sure he can get his associates degree completed before he has to run.

He is also positive Jack and Maddie think their weapon calibrations are busted because they keep going off around him and their kids. Dante had been scared they'd find him out, but they already had "false alarms" around their kids. The "false alarms" intensified when Dante started adding his own ecto to the kids' food (he wants them to be as strong as possible when whatever accident Clockwork plans to use to turn his kids into Halfas happens. He's accepted he has to allow temporary awful for the best out come. It was one of Clockworks many, many lessons.) so he started tagging random things with ecto around town and in their home so that it alerts to other "not haunted" shit. It amuses him how frustrated they're getting over it and Jazz has definitely caught on he's doing Something, but she doesn't know what and hasn't gathered the nerve to ask yet.

In other news, she had her 6th birthday was a few weeks ago and Danny's is coming up, and both kids are excited about Dante being there. For Jazz's birthday he made baked goods and brought presents Jazz actually cared about, unlike her parents who reanimated the chicken wings Jazz wanted for dinner and had barely remembered the date in time to get her a gift they'd like her to want. It really helps prove to them that he's the most reliable adult around in their childish points of view. He feels like people may call him manipulative, but all he did was pay attention to what the kids babbled at him about. He wasn't sure they'd have the same interests has their older counterparts in a completely different dimension and wasn't going to force them to have those interests in fear he makes them hate something they could have potentially loved, so he listens and learned that while Danny has discovered a love for space, Jazz is going through a horse girl phase and probably doesn't even know what psychology is yet.

He read up on horses and their care and history in his free time so that he could talk with her about her current special interest before freshening up on his space knowledge for Danny. He wants to help their confidence and make them happy, and all the development books said that taking interest in their interests does that.

But this also had Dante realize that at some point he didn't care about space as much as he did when he was Danny. He still loves it and finds all the new information on alien constellations fascinating, but it's no longer an Obsession. It doesn't feed him the way it did His Danny and probably will this Danny too. It also makes him think about the rigid difference between a Ghost Obsession and a Halfa Obsession. Maybe it's because he has spent years around Frostbite, but he finds the metaphor of Ghost Obsessions being solid ice and Halfa Obsessions being water the best to explain the difference. A Ghost Obsession is solid, it can't fill in cracks if the circumstances around the ghost change, but you can shape it, carve it slowly into something pleasing. A Halfa's Obsession is more forgiving, easily moving and settling as it needs to. It can even completely change. An adult ghost is more likely to shatter and fade than successfully change their Obsession completely in one go like a Halfa can. Ghosts are also more likely to go mad and self-destruct if they ignore their Obsession for any extended amount of time. Dante's luckily a special case. Frostbite says his ability to mold and bribe his own core is likely because of it's mimicry makes it more fluid. Anyone else would have most like faded in his situation of being unable to act on his Obsessions in years. Decades, really.

Interacting with and providing for his kids, even if he can't claim them yet, is like taking a breath of sweet, sweet air after nearly drowning. It's a little painful, but the best thing ever.

"Dan?" Jazz's innocent little voice drags him from his thoughts. Jack and Maddie had pulled him into their kitchen (a truly horrid place) and ranted and rambled at him before running off to their lab as they forgot his and the kids' existences.

"Yes?" He still doesn't know how to feel about that particular nickname, but it's what his kids have been calling him recently. When he asked why he got a rambled explanation he didn't really understand, but boiled down to: Mom is call Mom, Dad is Dad, so Dante has to be Dan because important adults in all kids' lives have one syllable names. He doesn't know how to argue with that. It's too cute.

"Do you have a wife?" Jazz asks and Dante nearly swallows his tongue with how startled the question makes him. Luckily not needing to breath saves him from a coughing fit.

"No, I don't have a wife." Her tiny face scrunches up in confusion at that answer.

"Why?" Danny asks as he toddles over, clearly having been listening in.

"There's a couple reasons really. For one, I haven't dated anyone and that's usually the first step to finding a wife. Second, I'd prefer to focus on my academics and you two for now. I have plans and dating someone would be inconvenient at best currently." Dante explains, "And thirdly, I've discovered I would rather have a husband."

"A husband?" Jazz and Danny look confused and intrigued.

"Yes." Dante nods sagely, "While I am technically pansexual, meaning I can like anyone of any gender, but I've found myself leaning more towards men in recent years."

He's not explaining to children His Danny's dating history or WHO caused his realization of being on the fruity side of sexuality or how he realized he leaned more towards the gay side of the equation after he absorbed Plasmius. It's just another difference between His Danny and Dante; Danny was extremely attracted to protective women who could kick ass and a handful of dudes, while Dante is attracted to protective men who kick ass and some women. The type stayed the same, but the gender changed.

It was a disturbing day to piece together the change in preference was because Plasmius had to be mostly gay and probably had a massive hate boner for Jack. He was definitely the type to have internalized homophobia. Maddie was probably just a convenient conventionally attractive woman for his crazy brain to latch onto to pretend he wasn't in love with Jack. It makes Dante feel gross.

The kids accept what he says before Danny gives the universal uppies hands, "Dan?"

Dante picks him up gently, he's still scared he'll hurt the kids while they're only liminal. "Yes, Polaris?"

"Can you be our new Daddy?" Danny asks hopefully. Jazz gasps and gapes at her brother, but doesn't object.

Dante decides to take a risk, "If .. If I become your dad, I will be removing you from your Mommy and Daddy. Are you okay with that?"

"What do you mean?" Danny blinks innocently, "Can't you just come live with us here?"

"It's because Mom and Dad's thingies keep hurting us, isn't it?" Jazz is already so jaded to her parents. Dante didn't need to do anything but be there for her to turn against them.

"Yes. I'm working on getting a foster license, but I don't want to remove you before you're ready." Dante easily admits, "Unless something big happens. Then I'm taking you no matter what."

"But.. Mom and Dad love us." Danny looks devastated. This is exactly why Dante needed to take this slow. Danny would fight him every step of the way if Dante doesn't do this at his pace. Danny, no matter the universe, is very stubborn and sometimes allergic to good sense.

"I know, Sunshine, but sometimes love isn't enough." Dante holds his scarred left hand up so the kids will look at it, "My parents were like yours in a lot of ways. They loved me, but I got very, very hurt and they never noticed and even made it worse unintentionally. I don't want you to feel like I did."

Danny traces the scar where it twists up the inside of his forearm. "They wouldn't.."

"Yes, they would." Jazz has an impressive scowl for her age. "They never listen."

"They Wouldn't!"

"Would Too!"

"Would Not!"

"Okay, okay!" Dante cuts in before they continue arguing. They pout and glare at each other as Dante continues to speak. "Just promise to call me if anything happens, okay? If nothing happens, then there's nothing to worry about, but promise to tell me if something does."

The kids blink at him before Jazz nods very seriously. "I know how to use the phone."

"That's awesome, Sweetheart!" Dante praises with a small smile, "My number is on the fridge. Call me if anything happens."

"We won't need to." Danny crosses his arms and pouts, making Jazz huff angerly.

"Well, it's just in case." Dante hugs the boy a little tighter, because how can Dante explain they definitely will. That at some point in the next year they are going to be hurt and irreversibly changed and Dante is going to let it happen. He's worried they'll hate him when they find out he knew they were going to be hurt and let it happen because he's selfish. He selfishly wants them to be changed so he can keep them with him as long as possible. Theoretically Halfas can make the strongest ghosts after they die too. He wants them to be strong, stronger than the Ancients, stronger than him even, when they're all grown up. "How about we watch a movie?"

"Spirit!!" Jazz shrieks.

"NO!" Danny protests. "We watched that a million times! Treasure Planet!"

"I don't want to watch Treasure Planet!"

"How about we watch a movie you haven't seen yet?" Dante has heard them do this argument enough times. "How about How to train your Dragon? I heard it's good."

"Fiiine.." Both kids aren't happy, but they're accepting, so Dante counts it as a win.

"Good. Jazz, can you set the movie up?" She nods and starts wondering off to do just that as Dante sets Danny back onto the floor, "Thanks, Sweetie! Danny, could you get your and Jazz's movie blankets?"

"Otay!" The toddler runs off to grab the small throw blankets Dante had gifted the kids at Christmas (along with a bunch of toys and puzzles since their parents forgot, too busy arguing about Santa) and they now use for every movie night, hints why they are dubbed their movie blankets. While they do that Dante locates his bag, it's a backpack he modified to be insolated like a food delivery bag since that's basically all this bag is used for. He sets up the cute, new bento boxes that were inside the bag on the coffee table. Each box has stickers of their special interests (cowgirls and horses, rocket ships and astrological bodies, items used in cooking and food and drinks(since it'd be weird to paste Danny and Jazz on his box)) to label them and have food specific to each person, the kids were much more willing to voice food preferences to him when they realized he would take that into consideration each time he feeds them. His own bento box's food is more ecto based than the kids' since it isn't really healthy for him to consume large quantities of human food. The kids had noticed him not eating after a while and got concerned. It was very cute, and he isn't ready for the "I'm not human" talk just yet, so he just makes his food slightly healthier for him to consume. He has to keep it out of reach of the kids though, because while he can spike their food with some ecto to strengthen their liminal-ness, the amount in his food would hurt them currently. When they're Halfas he won't need to worry about it because it would actually be good for them.

Speaking of, it really wasn't fun when Jack and Maddie attacked his and the kids dinner last week though. Their gadgets correctly identifying them as ecto-contaminated and blow up the bento boxes he originally got them. He had to order pizza so the kids didn't go hungry that night and had to suffer the... does it count as a stomach ache if he doesn't have a stomach? It certainly reminds him of the stomach aches he remembers His Danny would get occasionally. Non-ecto-contaminated food gives him the ghost equivalent of a mild stomach ache if he eats too much of it in one go and the kids won't let him only eat one slice since they've seen their dad eat a whole pizza by himself.

He's really not looking forward to the "I'm not human" talk because he KNOWS the poor kids are going to feel so bad for making him eat things that hurt him. He can't not tell them at the point he has to have that conversation, but it's definitely sometime he's going to put off as long as possible. He's so willing to hurt for these sweet kids.

"New lunch boxes!" Jazz cheers when she sees the bentos.

"Really??" Danny nearly trips on the blanket he's dragging to the front room in his rush to come look at his new box.

"I got us replacements. Hope you like them." Dante says as he watches them look the boxes over.

"Thank You!" Dante is then "tackled" by two very excited and beaming children.

"No problem, kiddos." He hugs them both back.

The rest of the night is calmer. Well, as calm as it can be with a 6 and almost 4 year old. The movie is a hit with both of them. Dante sees dragons are going to be a fixation for both of them for a bit and is planning to get them both dragon plushies before Danny's birthday. He doesn't want Jazz jealous if Dante gets Danny HttyD stuff for his birthday so it'll be a non-birthday thing. He already has all Danny's birthday gifts anyways.

After the movie and dinner, Dante gets Jazz and Danny ready for bed and reads them bedtime stories before he heads out. Jack and Maddie don't leave the lab the entire time Dante is there, nor do they seem to even remember he had even been there in the first place. It makes Dante very uncomfortable as he realizes this is the behavior that had forced His Danny to interact with Vlad regularly. Vlad could have kidnapped and brainwashed the kids if he met them at this age.

Dante grumpily records it in his ever growing file of evidence to present to CPS when the time comes. Pictures of the destroyed bento boxes with barely in frame devastated Jazz and Danny and a video of Jack and Maddie waving around the weapons that destroyed them while unapologetically apologizing to the kids for the boxes destruction are both in the same file. The file as about 2 dozen similar incidences in it and it makes Dante mad to look at it. He's more than ready to destroy them, but his foster license isn't approved yet and the kids aren't Halfas yet, so he has to wait just a little longer. Just a little longer and he'll have his children.

Just a little longer...

Chapter Text

Dante's metaphorical heart stops when he finally gets The Call. He was at work, just about to go on his 15 minute break, when his phone starts vibrating. Caller ID said it was Maddie's phone number and while he might have ignored it last year, he KNEW it was getting close to TIME, so he tells a coworker he needs a minute and answers. Jazz and Danny's heartbreaking sobs are the first thing he hears and his core freaks out. He doesn't really remember what he said to his coworkers or manager, but he definitely outed himself as not human in his obvious panic to get to Jazz and Danny. They tell him to go, clearly understanding something is terribly wrong, and he's gone.

His world tunnels down to reassuring his kids through the phone, only hanging up when he sees them in person. They're dressed in ridiculously tiny hazmat suits their parents clearly had custom made for them, luckily they've already reverted back to human form, because he instantly scoops them up and books it to the nearest hospital. They cling to him, their tears stopping momentarily as they blink in startled curiosity at whatever inhuman traits leaked from his features.

He had discussed taking them to a hospital directly after their accident with Clockwork, his dad agreed it's for the best. There's no Anti-Ecto Control Acts or GIW in this dimension to flag and tag the kids' inhuman-ness, and it would strengthen his case to be allowed to take the kids in. It also helps sooth his core to know medical professionals can help with the electrical burns and lingering pains. Dante remembers His Danny had to stay a week before the doctors cleared him to go home and it had really helped with the immediate side effects from dying.

Because of how small Amity Park is there isn't many people in the ER so he and the kids are instantly brought back. Between everyone in town being able to recognize the kids of the town crazies, who are clearly distraught and hurt, and the "gentle giant" that started hanging around said crazies looking less than human while panicking over said kids, the staff can tell something big happened.

Danny breaks into tears again (emotional and physical pain catching up with him) when Jazz explains to Dante and the staff how their parents were excited that the Jazz and Danny's hazmats came in and forced the kids to try them on. And as soon as the hazmats were on, their parents dragged the kids down to the lab to "show them the family business" and lamented about the ghost portal not working when they tried to turn it on the day before, but got distracted by talking about the possibilities of the portal and weapons and ended leaving them down in the lab. Danny apparently toddled into the portal while Jazz was trying to yell up the stairs to get their parents' attention, but stopped and run over to Danny when the toddler loudly fell. The thing is, the toddler found the problem with the portal when he fell. A wire was unplugged, which he plugged in at the same moment Jazz had touched him to help him back to his feet. The portal opened as violently on top of them as it had on His Danny. They babble about looking different when they got out of the portal, but don't elaborate (Dante will either have to ask later or wait and see) and the medical staff don't really ask, instead wanted to know what happened after. Jazz explained she helped a crying Danny out of the lab and found "moma's" phone and called Dante because she promised she would.

Dante had to explain his side of the story after. How he was at work and dropped everything when he got the call. How he was gathering evidence of the Fenton's neglect since there hadn't been something big to happen before now, just a bunch of every questionable, but not damning situations, if they happened only a single time and not repeatedly. How he got approved for a foster license a little over 2 months ago just in case. Professing that "just in case" meant either something as small as the kids admitting the didn't feel safe and needed an out or something as big as this to happen.

The cops and a social worker showed up just after the kids medical treatment was administered (Jazz was mostly just achy, but Danny needed surgery on his fingers) and they got settled in a small room that had 2 beds in it. Jazz and Dante had to retell their stories and Danny was calm enough (and a little loopy, because of the painkillers kicking in) to add his 2 cents. Namely that he's scared of what his parents will think (no elaboration on specifics).

The parents who definitely haven't noticed something was/is wrong yet.

The police are not pleased and wondering how the situation got so bad without anyone's notice, especially since Jazz is old enough for school and they should have noticed something. They also grumbled on their way out that the kids must have been written off because of their parents.

The social worker hears enough to grant Dante, at least temporary, custody. Her face says it's probably not going to stay temporary as she rushes to follow the cops, clearly wanting to discuss everything.

Dante fights his features back into "mostly normal" territory after that, but the cat is out of the bag. While most people are giving him wary looks, they're still very accommodating. Setting up a cot for him to stay with the kids overnight and an uncomfortable chair for him to sit by their sides during the day. They also relax quite a bit when they caught him mother henning the hell out of the kids over the next few hours.

After the kids settle into naps, the trauma of the day catching up to them, he flags a nurse down to tell them he should be back in an hour but please call if ANYTHING happens. The nurse seems utterly charmed by how intensely he feels about being there when the kids wake, so Dante is sure they'll call him.

He stops by the Fenton's house first. He can hear them talking loudly and excitedly in the lab, but he ignores them. He doesn't trust himself not to kill them, his core not caring that this was all for the best nor that he knew it was coming, HIS KIDS GOT HURT. They ARE hurt. So he can't get side tracked by the Fentons.

He goes to the kid's rooms, gathering clothes and comfort items for their stay in the hospital. He's annoyed to realize that over half of the kids' belongings are things he bought in the last year and a half he's known them. He's not sure how he didn't notice before now, probably too focused on the kids themselves. But seriously, how are the Fentons so bad at even providing comfort items for their children? They're not struggling for money. Whatever, just means there's not many reminders of their parents in their things when he moves everything to his apartment, with a police escort of course. That's the responsible thing, right? He's not sure, he's never been on either side of this equation before.

His second stop is his apartment to get his own bag of clothes, books (his school textbooks and 2 chapter books he thinks the kids will enjoy), his laptop (so he can email his school and do schoolwork online), and chargers. He calls his work to let them know what's going on while he gathers his things. They're very unsurprised and understanding, telling him to take as much time as he needs... He may have complained about the Fentons to his coworkers in the past and admitted to getting his foster license "just in case".

He vaguely wonders how pissed the humans would be to know he KNEW something was going to happen, so his "just in case" reasoning is a bit of a deception. Not that it matters, he doesn't plan to tell them. Only his kids when they're old enough to protect themselves. He's pretty sure his core will shatter and he'll fade, if.. when. they reject him for letting this all happen. He's made peace with that. He doesn't care so long as they're healthy and mostly happy. He's going to get them all the support and allies they need to cope and thrive before then.

He's got time. Clockwork will make sure of it.

He shakes off the morbid thoughts as he re-enters the hospital. It nearly took him the full hour, but that's fine. Both kids are still sleeping peacefully, much to his relief. He didn't want them to think he abandoned like their parents if they woke up while he was gone. He ignores the cooing from the nurses (down side of enhanced hearing) when he gently wiggles the kids' favourite toys under their arms. Jazz's is an Einstein teddy bear and Danny's is a Deadly Nadder from How to train your dragon.

The action gives him a better view of his kids' new additions. Jazz has faint scarring, like delicate vines, going from her palms (closer to her fingers than where his starts in the dead center) of both hands and weaving gracefully up her arms and under her hospital dress. The scars are almost pretty and avoided her face. (Unlike him, or Danny.) Dante thinks he can get her to be positive and not hate her scars with time. But Danny's scarring is significantly worse and more visible. He foresees Danny having many issues with his new appearance, especially when he finally starts seeing other kids. (His Danny had.) The tips of Danny's right hand's fingers were burnt off (about half the distal phalanx on his thumb and pinkie, but the entire distal phalanx on his index, middle, and ring), gnarly scaring making the rest of his hand stiff and climbing up his arm in thick knots and marring half his face. Little Danny's scarring is so much worse than Dante imagined, but his body is so much smaller, of course the scars would be worse without as much area to effect.

The realization of how much worse tiny 4 year old Danny's scars are compared to 14 year old Danny's were makes Dante want to kill himself for letting this happen when they were so young. He swears he's going to make sure Danny is self-confident anyways, and do everything he can to make up for his oversight.

He kind of wants to pick a fight with Clockwork for not warning him, but he knows why he didn't. Clockwork is all about creating the best outcome for all. But it doesn't mean Dante has to like that THIS is the best outcome.

He'll smother Jazz and Danny with SO MUCH affection to make up for this. His kids are going to be loved and happy. HE'LL MAKE SURE OF IT.

Chapter Text

The last year was a mess. At first because of custody battles while helping the kids learn their new powers (he had to explain his own ghostliness to them to get them to be honest about everything they've noticed about their own) and helping them with their body image, the scars really messed with their confidence. The Fentons were not going to let the kids go easy, but Dante had everything he needed to legally keep Jazz and Danny. After a few months of being fostered by him in a MUCH safer environment, the kids agreed to let him adopt them. The small family had to dodge the Fentons regularly after that, but the harassment abruptly stops when the Justice League starts investigating the sudden city wide ghost attacks.

Dante (with some help from Clockwork) keeps himself and the kids away from the Justice League's magic users' eyes since they'd clock the small family as ghostly and Dante isn't sure how they'd react. Better safe than sorry.

Dante had minimized damage and taken care of any ghosts stronger than Boxy that came through. Danny started looking at him like he's a superhero when he noticed, but Dante doesn't feel like a hero. His days as Phantom the ghost hero died with His Danny. Dante has counted himself as retired from that line of work since his original family died (it's one of the reasons he allowed Clockwork to use his name as a lastname, he has no secret identity to keep), but he wasn't going to let the living and dead actually hurt each other, especially not when his kids could stumble upon the potential aftermath.

Any unfortunate Amity Park witnesses (there had only been a few, thankfully) were already familiar with Dante not enjoying the spotlight, and knew not saying about it to the Justice League (as far as Dante knows at least, no heroes knocked on his door yet), and don't do anything too obvious in thanks for saving the town or whatever... Hopefully that behavior will peter out now that the Portal is shut down.

On a similar note, Danny is already showing signs of developing into an adorable little protector. Dante has been called to his preschool numerous times because Danny defended someone from bullying. Sure, the kid's powers leaking through made the children's antics a bit more violent than normal, but Danny was trying to do good, so how could he punish the kid. Nah, instead Dante kicked up a fuss that Danny felt the need to defend others from the bullying and why is there even bullying happening? The school backtracked a LOT when he pushed back against their stupidity.

Jazz is also going to a protective spirit of some kind, but she's more subtle in how she retaliates against injustice. She likes finding blackmail and threatening them with that first before breaking into violence. That being said, she's finally discovered psychology and fell in love with the idea of it. She got sent to a counselor's office after making a kid cry. Everyone thinks her behavior is because of what happened/is happening with her parents, so they thought maybe talking out her feelings would help her lower the amount of "victims" she makes cry. Which is actually a valid guess, probably even partially right too. But in the end, all Jazz took from the conversation was that she found "brain science" super interesting. Both Psychological and Neurological. Dante is a little scared to ask how she got that type of information from a conversation about her parents, but rolls with it, providing her with all the textbooks on the subjects she wants. And a dictionary to look up the words she doesn't understand because Dante probably won't be much help.

It's nice to see pieces of His Danny and Jazz in these versions of Danny and Jazz.

With everything going on and Dante's getting his associates degree in the next month, he figures it's as good a time as any to bring up moving. He doesn't like how the people are treating the kids, be it pitying or misplaced anger, now that it's common knowledge the ghost attacks are Jack and Maddie's faults. Even if he had planned to stay in Amity (he hadn't), he definitely wouldn't now.

"Hey, Jazz? Danny?" Dante calls out as he steps from the kitchen to the front room, "Can you come here for a moment?"

He hears affirmative shouts and two sets of little feet running towards him. Jazz has a book nearly half her size and Danny has a soft toy rocket.

"What's up, Dan?" Jazz asks nervously while Danny fidgets and starts floating a little.

"Nothing bad, promise." Dante reassures, "I just wanted to ask y'all if you would be open to moving?"

"Moving?" Danny's face scrunches in confusion.

"Yes. I know you've both have been having problems with bullies." Dante crouches down to be closer to their eye level, "I was thinking we could move somewhere new. Where you can make new friends that don't know what happened here. What do you say?"

"I don't know.." Danny mumbles. The poor kid is still coming to terms with how bad his parents are. Dante is planning to get both kids into therapy after the move. Jazz can probably help him get Danny to agree to it by then.

"Where would we go?" Jazz looks very serious. It's too cute.

"I was hoping you could help me decide." Dante admits. "I have several ideas, but I wanted your input before deciding."

"Where?"

"Mostly the cities of the big heroes." Dante grabs the files of the different opinions he picked out and spreads them out on the floor (he has no coffee table and he's not making them fly to look at them comfortably at the table). Each file have the city and crime rate, the hero(es) there, the house or apartment they'd be moving into, the school(s) they'd go to and their pro and cons, and the potential shop space to turn into the coffee shop he plans to open. It might be overkill, but he wants them to be informed. "No decisions need to be made immediately. We have time."

They acknowledge his words, but are more focused on the files. He keeps half an ear on them as he goes back to the kitchen, mostly to make sure no fights break out between the siblings. He's broken up enough squabbles to know they can fight over anything if they feel like it. It's more likely at this time of day too because they'll be getting hungry and will want dinner soon.

Dante will get started on that. Despite usually making something from scratch, it feels like chicken nuggets would be a good choice for tonight. Now to pick healthy sides. Decisions, decisions.

Chapter Text

Dante could have died from how cute his kids were while debating the different cities and their heroes. Danny wanted to meet the Flashes both because he thinks they seem fun and to scold them about fucking around with time travel, poorly, for Clockwork. (Clockwork introduced himself and got interrogated by his grandbabies over his abilities. Luckily they got distracted before they could think to ask if he warned Dante what was going to happen to them. Thank Ancients for Clockwork never answering anything bluntly.) And Jazz wanted to meet Black Canary because she's a therapist and a hero, so Jazz wants to get her opinion on heroes and their mindsets. That led to they also arguing which city they'd get to help the best by just being there and won't mind their weirdness. Which put Gotham on the table. In their child brains they decide Gotham needs them the most.

Dante only had Gotham as an opinion because there were so many vigilantes he probably won't have to do anything to keep the kids safe while there being enough petty crime for the baby protectors to "thwart" to feel fed. (That shit is not happening without Dante around to intervene.) He hoped they'd pick any of the other cities, but isn't surprised they ended up deciding on Gotham.

A positive for Gotham is that it will definitely have the highest amount of ambient ectoplasm. All big cities have ambient ecto because of how much death happens daily in close proximity, but Gotham has at least 3 times as much death as the other cities.

That being said, he chose Burnley district for the area to move to. It's not the fanciest, but a bit safer than other districts and close to the Zoo.

It's still not safe enough for Dante to bring them with him while he's setting up their new apartment and coffee shop, so he uses the kids last week of school to get wards set up and establish the buildings as extensions of his Haunt. He imbues the walls with the ghostly magic (he learned how in preparation for getting his kids). The wards will stun whoever enters them coming to harm him, but will banish those planning to harm the kids to the nightmare realm. He doesn't really care if you have beef with him, but he rather deal with that out of sight of the kids, which is why it only stuns so he can drag them away. But if you come for his kids, you will suffer.

He doesn't have time to mark the kids' new school with a "stay the fuck away" ghost vibe that should only effect those with negative energy, but he can do that when he enrolls them.

He does have to deal with the shades because they're a bit intense and Dante doesn't want the kids to get scared. Amity Park didn't have any so they'd be completely unprepared...

Dante slashes a portal into the air next to him. The shop's windows are still boarded up so he doesn't have to worry about any humans witnessing. Icy air blasts him as he sticks his head through the portal into Frostbite's office.

"My King? Are you well?" Frostbite frets, making Dante blush a bright green.

"I am fine, Frostbite. I was wondering if you'd be willing babysit the kids for a couple days? I need to thin out the shades before I move them into the new place." Dante also plans to move the big items (like their beds, desks, dressers, the table, etc) with a portal without the kids getting underfoot.

"Of course." Frostbite grins. "I never got to see you so small. I believe your Ghostlings shall have fun playing with the Frostlings.

"I.. We should set up checkups too." Dante's to do list feels never ending. "It's been a while for all three of us now that I think about it."

"I can do that when you drop them off." Frostbite says agreeably.

"Is there anything I can do for you? I'm asking a lot of you on short notice."

"Great one, you are young and a friend. I would not ask anything of you for asking for my help." Frostbite smiles fondly. "You have already done much for all of the Infinite Realms and the Far Frozen anyways, we are indebted to you."

Dante makes a face at that, which makes Frostbite laugh.

"So, uh, in a week?" Dante awkwardly tries to get back on track. "Would you be free in a week to take them for 4 days? I can probably clear 60 to 80 percent of the shades without alerting the locals of my presence in that time."

"Yes, just remember to send some human food with them. They are too alive to have only ectoplasmic food." Frostbite nods.

"I know." Dante smiles. "They will stay alive until they're old and grey if I have any say in it."

"Of course, Great One." Frostbite is fully aware of Dante's Obsessions and was great help stabilizing his core while Clockwork prepared him and universe for each other. "I shall see you in a week."

"Okay, thank you, Frostbite. See you then." Dante is still a little flustered as he exits and closes the portal. He gets back to work setting up shelving in the back and filling them with supplies.

He spent the last two days painting (The walls are ectoplasm green and everything else is black and white. The tiling in the shop was already white and black so he just left it alone.), setting up the espresso machine, coffee maker, baked goods display, milk fridge, flavor station, cups and lids, and tables with seating. (The last on that list are colourful and mismatched things he found kicking around the Realms, he thinks it gives the place a chaotic charm.) He's organizing the back and upgrading the oven and stove today, and plans to upgrade the fridge, and freezer tomorrow before setting up the shop's sign. And if he has time, he'll hang the random art his kids and ghost friends picked out when they heard. (Which will definitely add to the chaos and he kind of loves it.) He upgraded the apartment's plumbing and appliances one the first day, after setting up the wards, but decided to focus on his shop the rest of the school week. The next week will be spent packing the old apartment because he wasn't going to force them to be without their toys and books for their last week of school.

This whole process has been a thing. He's got this though. He's much more willing to ask for help now than as a half-live kid. He's excited over what the kids will think once he's done setting up shop. He won't be opening it til they're settled, so in maybe a month (give or take), and Dante found a safe place for them to hang out at while he works. He doesn't want the kids to get bored being stuck in the cafe for 8 hours and his duplicates are still iffy at long range.

Plus if there's a kids club or something, the kids can make friends and socialize before school starts up again.

Dante, no, Dan is excited for this.

Chapter Text

Dan thinks they've all settled into the new place rather well. The apartment is chaotic and homey, the kids had fun "helping" him unpack. They are enrolled in the nearest school and a fun summer school program that could handle them. He did have to inform the school/club staff of the kids' "meta" statuses because Danny is too young to understand why he can't use his powers in public or talk about Dan or Jazz's. (He may have threatened to murder them all if he finds out they ratted his kids out to meta traffickers or the Bat clan. And so far it's been fine. No one has tried anything.) Now, the kids come home babbling about their new friends and minor squabbles that were taken care of in a reasonable manner. It's such a nice change from Amity.

He still waits a full month (just to make sure everything goes well at the club and he can rush over) before opening Phantom's Mourning Brew. The first few weeks are of course very slow. He didn't do any advertisement and doesn't plan to. He's also a 7ft tall red-eyed scowling muscley man who doesn't bother hiding his "meta" status because there's no point to now. Sure, he keeps his feet to the floor, mostly controls his glowing, and stays in mostly human shape, but he lets his hair do whatever, his teeth are too sharp, ears too pointy, nails too claw-like, and just letting the other-ness slip out. It's less of a headache to exist like that, but it does make people wary of him, less willing to give his shop a try. It doesn't bother him all that much, it's not like he needs the money. It's just something to do while his kids are at school.

It's not until someone hides in his shop to hide from a stalker that word gets out about his weird little shop being a safe place. He broke the stalker's legs and gave the victim a free muffin. Anytime an unfortunate person comes into the shop needing help, he gives it. He has no reason not to. Plus the small part of him that is still Danny kind of misses helping living people.

This unfortunately means the Bats definitely heard about him, but since he's only open during the day while his kids are off learning and playing and his shop is spelled against people coming to fuck it up, he doesn't have to deal with them until Signal gets launched through his door. The kid looks like he's barely old enough to drink and he's bleeding out all over Dan's freshly mopped floors. He's not salty about that at all. Okay, he is maybe a little salty about it, but hey, it's not the kid's fault. No. It's the fucker wrecking everything in front of his store. He believes his name is Vane or maybe Bane? Dan doesn't really give a fuck.

"Yo, kid." Dan calls out. The yellow clad vigilante flinches and looks over at him, wariness and fear seeping into his body language.

"Yeah?"

"Here. Patch yourself up." Dan tosses a well stocked first aid kit at him, "I'll take care of the meathead outside."

"What!? No! You're a civilian!" Signal tries to protest, but slips and falls back on his ass when he tries to get up.

"You're in my shop. You're now my responsibility." Dan informs him sternly, "Now sit your ass down and patch yourself up. I'll be right back."

Dan ignores whatever else the vigilante says as he exits his store. He knows this is about to make the Batclan so much more annoying, but whatever, the kid entered his domain, instincts demand he protect whoever enters. Plus the kids would be disappointed if he stayed a bystander in these situations.

It takes Dan less than 5 minutes the beat Vane-Bane-whoever unconscious. He doesn't even tap into his powers to do it. Literally nothing in this universe has the brute strength to go toe to toe with him. The magic users on the other hand could probably trap him for a while. At least until the Realms riot because he went missing. He swears they have separation anxiety whenever he "wonders off". He gets nightly visitors currently to "check" on him. He's pretty sure it's because he won't count as a "real adult" til he's over 100 years old. He's still a kid by ghost standards. Not even a teenager, he's closer Jazz's living age now that he thinks about it. It's whatever though, he's not actually a child, he just reads as one to ghosts.

"What the fuck?" Signal squeaks from the shop doorway as Dan dusts himself off. Dan is annoyed to see the kid didn't patch himself up.

"I told you I'd take care of it." Dan hisses, speedwalking over and manhandling Signal into a chair. The kid struggles a bit, but Dan locates the bleeding wound. It looks like something jagged tore through his side. Dan can make an educated guess on how it happened, so Dan sets to work on cleaning, stitching, and bandaging the wound with no consent, since he figured if the kid wasn't going to patch himself up when told, he doesn't got a say in it.

Signal seems to give up on escaping Dan halfway through the stitches and instead starts complaining to the other Bats through his comm. The kid is just huffy, but clearly doesn't feel like he's in danger at that point. Dan rewards him with a fresh blueberry muffin afterwards.

"Er? Thanks?" Signal looks so confused, but Dan ain't explaining shit. He needs to clean up all the blood and start cleaning to shut down for the day. His kids' will need to be picked up in about an hour.

"I close in 10 minutes. Do you need anything else?"

"Uh? Red or B will want to talk to you." Signal fidgets. "They'll be here in 12."

"Tough shit. I close in now 9 minutes and have shit to do." Dan glares. "If they feel like talking, they can come back when I'm open."

"They're not going to like that."

"Look upon all the fucks I give." Dan crosses his arms. "My hours are 11am to 3pm during the summer and 9am to 2pm the rest of the year. Minus weekends and holidays when I'm closed."

"Those are odd hours for a coffee shop." Signal frowns a little, clearly thinking hard on what those hours could mean in such a crime ridden city.

"My shop. My rules." Dan says, why elaborate when he knows the fuckers will stalk him and find out about his kids before the day is out anyways. The fucking stalkers. "5 minutes."

"Okay, okay." Signal concedes. "Thanks for your help. I'll see you tomorrow."

Dan instantly starts running a mop with the strongest sanitation solutions he has the moment the kid exits. He wipes down all the surfaces Signal bleed on with the solution too. No identities will be found out in his shop if he has any say. He locks the front door as soon as the clock hits 3 and goes through all the motions. The espresso machine is cleaned and broken down for the night, the coffee pots are emptied and sterilized, trash is thrown in the dumpster out back (the red vigilantes camping out by the backdoor are ignored so blatantly it makes them visibly flabbergasted, but Dan waits til he's back inside to snicker), the floors are re-mopped, leftover baked goods are packed away and the displays are cleaned. He only uses a touch of time magic to make it so he has 20 minutes to get 10 minutes away when he's done closing up.

He leaves through the back door like he does everyday and can feel eyes on him the whole way to building his kids' are at. He can taste their uneasy, but that's not his problem. He doom scrolls as he waits (ignoring the other parents that show up, they also eye him with bitter wariness because they're expecting him to go rouge or something), only putting it away at the minute mark, knowing from experience to do that or have a broken phone. It does make the vigilantes even more nervous.

But like clock work (ha), as soon as the doors open, Danny shoots out like a homing missile and tackles Dan with all the force his tiny body can muster. (It's too cute for Dan to put a stop to.) While Jazz trots over to them at a leisurely pace, smiling and hugging when she gets close.

"Dan!" Danny beams, "There was puddling today!"

"Really?" Dan encourages, adjusting how he's holding Danny so he can hold Jazz's hand as they begin their walk home. (He'd carry Jazz too, but she prefers to walk 90% of the time.) He loses himself in their babbles about their day and little kid shenanigans. It's nice. He can almost forget the vigilantes following behind them in confusion, but the wariness is mostly replaced with understanding.

Jazz waits til they're safely inside their apartment to ask, "Why were Red Robin and Red Hood following us?"

"I helped Signal, but didn't stay to answer their questions." Dan explains, setting Danny gently onto the floor, "Picking you up was more of a priority."

"Are they mad at you?" Danny asks with a little frown.

"No. They just want to know if I plan to hurt anyone. I'm new and scary to them." Dan sits on the living room floor so he's (almost) eye level with the kids. "People are scared of what they don't understand. Remember how your parents hated ghost?"

They nod with confused frowns.

"It's because they didn't understand what we are, so they turned their fear to hate." The kids know Dan is a ghost and that the accident made them half-ghosts, Dan had that conversation the moment they admitted to their "ghost powers" because they couldn't control them. He gave them a child friendly run down on what to expect and takes them to the Realms every Saturday to freely use and train their powers without fear. "The Bats saw me do something "scary", but instead of letting that turn to anger like your parents would have, they want to learn everything about me. Unknowns become a lot less scary when you know them. I told them I'd be willing to talk to them tomorrow, but I'm currently still an unknown to them, so they wanted to see why I wouldn't talk to them right then and there."

"I don't get it." Danny scrunches his nose, "You're not scary."

Dan smiles, "You think that because you know me, Starlight. The vigilantes just need to get to know me and they'll go back to leaving me alone."

"What if they don't?" Jazz asks with an adorable head tilt.

"Well, we can always move away if they're mean." Dan shrugs, "Or we might gain friends if they're nice. We just have to wait and see. We'll have to trust Grandpa Clocky to tell us if something too bad will happen."

"Grandpa Clocky can't always interfere." Jazz points out.

"He will if it'll lead to a bad outcome." Dan reminds her. "He knows I'd do anything for you both."

Jazz seems to chew on that for a moment before accepting it, and instead asks, "Can I watch Barbie Swan Lake?"

Since Danny doesn't protest, instead yawns a little meaning he's going to nap soon, Dan approves. "Sure, Sweetie."

Dan gets them all set up and comfortable, and even watches about half of the movie with them, before beginning dinner. He decides to make puttanesca and mozzarella focaccia and double chocolate chip ecto-infused brownies. It's a hit with the kids.