Chapter Text
“So, you aren’t fully human, and you aren’t fully energy?” Robin asked. It seemed to him they were mostly one or the other, with a few traits of the other. The group had headed back and were sitting with the girls and Aqualad in the common room.
“I think so.” Phantom replied, looking at Danny. “Typically, I can’t see auras in my human form, but now I can’t see them in my gh-energy form, and I shouldn’t be able to sleep or eat, but I did both of those.”
“What is your energy form called? You’ve started to say something else, but every time you stop.”
Danny and Phantom both stared at Artemis in horror. Why did she have to ask?! Now everyone was curious! What was he supposed to say?! Would they hate him if they knew? Would they accept him? What should he do?!
“Danny? Phantom? Are you okay?” M’gann asked, worried. Even outside their minds, she could feel their panic. Danny’s breathing had become erratic and Phantom had completely frozen, turning just a little intangible.
“If you cannot tell us, that is fine, but if you are worried about our reactions, do not be. We will not judge based on background alone.” Aqualad reassured them. The team leader had been a little out of it when he first met the boys, so now he couldn’t explain why they felt off. Did something change, or did he just not notice it before? For some reason, they put him on edge, so he was only interacting with them from the other end of a ten-foot metaphorical pole.
Phantom glanced at Aqualad, his expression grateful but determined. “Thanks, but you guys should know. I shouldn’t . . . I shouldn’t hide it.” Phantom took a deep breath, steeling his nerves. “Do you guys believe in ghosts?”
The room was silent for a moment.
“I guess I do now. That’s what you are, isn’t it?” Wally asked.
Danny looked to Phantom, who had frozen in fear again, and nodded.
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Robin chided, “If you were a ghost, you’d be dead.” He stared hard at Danny. “But you’re not. You’re alive. How are you both alive and dead?”
Danny shrugged. “Think Shrödinger’s cat.” Phantom offered. “It’s something like that. Danny and I are the same person, so we are only ever one or the other, never both like now. I could access my abilities in human form, that’s why Danny can’t speak, but we’re still alive, technically? I can live without my life, but apparently, I cannot die without my soul. I still have my soul. I’m not beyond the pale yet. I’m one of the living dead, I guess.”
Wally quietly asked, “How did it happen?” He, more than any of the others, knew what Danny had gone through. It was obviously an accident, but Wally had reenacted his uncle’s experiment on purpose. He couldn’t imagine the hardship Danny must have faced.
“Well, my parents were ghost hunters-”
“They hunted you?!” Artemis shouted, interrupting.
“Kinda, but that’s later. Let me finish, then ask questions, okay?” He took a deep breath before starting again. “My parents were ghost hunters, and they came up with a way to enter the ghost zone. The ghost zone is the flip side of our world, inhabited by ghosts and filled with ectoplasm. Ectoplasm is the energy that ghosts are made of.” Phantom grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. “It didn’t quite work, and my folks just quit, but I took a look inside of it. There was a great big flash and everything just . . . changed when I kinda accidently turned it on while I was inside it? . . “
Everyone stared dumbly at them.
“How did you accidently turn it on if you were inside it?” Robin asked.
Phantom laughed, and Danny smiled. “My dad was a brilliant scientist, but like most of those, he was eccentric, maybe more so than most. He put the on button on the inside.”
Danny swore he heard a pin fall somewhere two miles away.
“What kind of idiot puts the power switch for a portal on the inside of the portal?” Artemis deadpanned.
Phantom fell over laughing. “MY DAD!” he yelled between laughter.
“So, you were inside it when it connected with the ghost zone?” M’gann asked quietly when his laughter had died down.
“Yeah. My body was coated in ectoplasm on the genetic level. When I first woke up, I realized I had snow white hair and glowing green eyes. I could walk through walls, disappear, and fly. I’m much more unique than the average guy, now.” Danny smirked at Robin on that last sentence. Robin rolled his eyes. “It was then I knew what I had to do.” Phantom continued, “I had to stop all the ghosts that were coming through my parents’ portal.”
“They kept it up and running after what it did to you?” Aqualad asked, aghast. He couldn’t imagine having parents that horrible.
“Well, it was their life’s work. In their defense, I kinda started the whole thing.” Danny shrugged when Robin raised an eyebrow at him.
“You started the ghost obsession?” Aqualad asked.
The ghost chuckled. “No, that started back when they were still in college. They made a mini portal that exploded in Vlad’s face, but he deserved it.” Danny shrugged, glancing at Phantom askance. “He does too! Dude’s a fruitloop!” Danny made a few hand gestures, clearly conversing with Phantom, but the rest were left out of the loop. “Okay, fair point, but that was an alternate timeline. He's probably different now.” Another silent moment. “Are you forgetting the ‘Ve vere sent to peck him to death.’ and ‘Maddie, darling.’ and ‘Little Badger.’?” With every quote, Phantom altered his voice, sounding exactly like the person he was imitating. Danny promptly flipped out. “I dunno, I just did it!”
“What are you guys talking about?!” Wally screeched, patience worn down to a threadbare rug.
“If you want, I can link Danny with everyone. Then he can talk to us the same way he talks to Phantom.” M’gann offered timidly.
Danny nodded enthusiastically. He was getting tired of needing a translator. M’gann linked them up, but frowned when she ran into a little trouble.
“I can't reach Phantom. It's like with Red Tornado. I can't read his mind or sense him at all.” She blinked up at her teammates.
Robin nodded. “Figures. He's not alive, after all.”
Aqualad nodded as well. “I should apologize. My initial hesitation toward you was merely due to the other worldly aura you possess, not any ill intent. I should let my judgement be based on your actions, not my superstitions.”
‘It's fine. I'm used to prejudice at this point. At least you didn't try to shoot me.’
Everyone glanced at Danny.
‘Oh yeah. Hi, I'm Danny. Nice to meet you all.’
Phantom hid a chuckle behind his hand. “I guess you all heard that? If I need to use telepathy with you all, I'll just pass it on through Danny.”
“That may not work in the field, but we'll cross that bridge later.” Robin informed them.
“Okay, very nice, we can talk now. What were you guys talking about earlier?” Wally questioned, eternally patient.
That reminded Danny of Phantom’s new ability. ‘That's right! Do it again! Mr. Lancer this time.’
Phantom cleared his throat. “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe!”
‘That is exactly Mr. Lancer’s voice! How did you do that?’
“I don't know.” Batman’s voice said from Phantom's mouth.
“Well that's freaky.” Robin nodded, agreeing with Wally.
“I’ve never done this before!” Phantom exclaimed, using Wally’s voice this time.
‘You’ve never tried before.’ Danny pointed out.
“That’s true.” M’gann’s voice.
“Okay, stop doing that.” Artemis ordered, “It’s freaking me out.”
Phantom shut his mouth so quickly, everyone could hear his teeth clack together. Danny started laughing, or the wheezing that they all assumed was laughing, while Phantom got increasingly greener.
“What is so funny?” Wally demanded, not liking their reaction to his girlfriend one bit.
‘It’s nothing. Just that Phantom is afraid of her.’
Silence reigned for only .25 seconds before the boys exploded.
“I AM NOT!”
“HE’S AFRAID OF HER BUT NOT BATMAN?!”
“WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN YOU TWO THAT I DON’T KNOW ABOUT?!”
Danny slid down in his seat, laughing his head off.
There were not many times that Batman was at a loss on what to do, but now was one of those times.
He had just spoken to Dr. Fate, and he wasn’t sure how to tell Danny and Phantom what he learned.
‘How do you tell teenagers that their entire universe no longer exists?’
He had already decided he was going to tell them, he just had to figure out how.
With a sigh, he decided the best way would be honesty.
‘Just get it out there. Like ripping off a Band-aid.’
“Batman 02”
Everyone turned to the door as Batman strode in, the laughter fading. Danny sat up straighter, seeing the churning unease in Batman’s aura.
‘Something’s up.’
Phantom glanced back at Danny before turning back to Batman.
With a should-have-been-calming breath, the Caped Crusader focused on Phantom and Danny. He briefly debated pulling them aside to tell them, but decided against it. The boys would need their new friends to understand what was going on. They were going to need a support system.
“I spoke with Dr. Fate.”
Zatanna visibly tensed, but Batman ignored it.
“He said that there was a vibration in the fabric of reality about four months before we found you.” Batman looked like he was regretting not punching the Lord of Order in the face when he finally deigned to let him know that something had put ripples in reality.
It’s not like reality shaking was a big deal or anything.
Nope.
“So, I’m guessing that’s when you arrived.”
His look lost all hints of anger. He almost looked sad. Danny realized he was holding his breath, but he didn’t let it out.
“He has already investigated the tear left behind.”
Phantom and Danny were absolutely terrified to continue listening, but neither one could say why.
“I’m so sorry. Your universe no longer exists.”
Maybe that was why.
Danny registered in the back of his mind that he needed to breath, but right now he couldn’t. People were talking around him, but he heard none of it. Next to him, Phantom was slowly starting to glow brighter and brighter, his face completely blank. The rest of the team fluttered around the both of them trying to keep them calm or trying to talk to them or Danny doesn’t know what but he can’t breathe and there’s a noise in his head like static and he’s pretty sure there are tears running in twin streams down his cheeks but he still isn’t breathing and the static is getting louder and they’re all gone.
He finally takes in a huge gulp of air as Phantom snaps, energy crackling out from under his skin, one hand gripping his own hair like a lifeline, the other leaving marks on the sofa.
Robin knew they were both having panic attacks, but neither were responding, and you can only stop a panic attack if you can reach the person, so Robin was at a loss. He could see that Phantom’s glow was getting stronger, and he still couldn’t get Danny to breathe properly, but he didn’t know what to do. M’gann had tried stepping into Danny’s mind to help him calm down, but to her surprise, she found that she couldn’t. When she tried, all she could find was static. Superboy just stayed in the background with Zatanna, both unsure on how to help, while Aqualad unsuccessfully coached Danny on how to breathe. Artemis and KF were trying to get Phantom to respond with increasing difficulty, as the energy escaping him was quickly growing.
Meanwhile, Batman was panicking too.
He did not intend to shock them like this. He really did not want to hurt the boy (Boys?) like this, but he had never been good at sugarcoating anything. Once he realized they weren’t going to calm down, he called for the computer to put up shields in the common room, eyeing the energy crackling around Phantom.
Luckily, Batman was paranoid and had containment fields in place for every room in the base that only he could access, because not two seconds after he raised the barriers, Phantom exploded. The energy that had been growing finally escaped, propelling everyone against the wall as the boy screamed, nails digging into his scalp, registering nothing around him. After the blast, the ghost curled into a ball on the smoking remains of the couch, whimpering.
The blast at least woke up Danny, the boy shaking as he pulled himself off the floor, leaning against the wall he had been flung at for support.
“That can’t . . . that can’t be right. . . I mean, universes can’t just up and stop existing, right?!”
The voice he had lost made a weak appearance in his distress, his eyes wide, staring off into nothing before snapping up to meet Batman’s impassive glare, the man having recovered from Phantom’s outburst first.
“That can’t happen, it’s impossible!” Danny yelled as loudly and angerly as his croaking whisper would allow.
Batman felt so much pity for the poor boy that was somehow glaring at him with a pleading look in his eye at the same time.
“Danny-“
“NO!” His voice cracked so much at the volume, Batman was afraid he was doing permanent damage. Danny shoved away the arm that M’gann had tried to wrap around him after she recovered from the shock of the blast. “No! I don’t believe you! You’re lying!” Danny slowly backed up until he hit the wall again, shaking his head, staring Batman in the eye, his voice getting quieter and quieter until Batman couldn’t hear him any longer. “. . . You have to be. . . you’re lying, you have to be. . .” When his back hit the wall, he broke eye contact, staring at the floor without seeing it, sliding down until he was sitting on the floor, curling up, hiding behind his knees, his arms wrapping around himself.
M’gann threw her arms around him, crying for the boy with silent tear stains down his cheeks.