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Nobody told Danny that defeating Pariah Dark would make him the Ghost king on his 16th birthday. But here he was with a literal mountain of paperwork from however many centuries Pariah was king. As if he didn't have enough stress from School and home (after)life to deal with!
At least his gaggle of ghouls had settled for scheduled "visits" so he was getting better sleep and making up his grades. Except he wasn't because the Observants wouldn't let him off the hook that easy. He was stuck at his desk doing more paperwork than should exist in any realm when he should be sleeping for school the next day.
His brain felt like it was melting, he hasn't slept more than 2 hours in the last several days. The only thing keeping him going is the espresso he is sure had become a part of his blood by now. He is pulled from his work by someone knocking on the doors to his office
"Enter" he barks, frustrated by the disturbance.
Fright Knight enters standing in front of the desk, bowing before speaking "My king the Demons Pariah sealed have taken notice of his absence and are beginning to disperse among the different realms"
Danny stared at the armored Knight for a second "Pariah sealed the Demons and no one bothered to inform me?"
"Apologies my king"
"What other races did he seal?"
"The Titans and their subspecies the gods, the Fae and draconian folk, along with the Angels"
Danny slumped over his desk "bring me Ghost Writer and Clockwork"
"As you wish my king"
After Fright Knight was gone Danny stood and stretched his stiff muscles before shifting into his more kingly form. His shift from Phantom to Ghost king was similar to his shift from Human to Phantom, but instead of blinding white rings they were now a softer blue/green rings that traveled across his being to reveal black armor that covered every inch on his body, his normal symbol still over his heart and core, the black and green ring of rage on his right hand, the floating crown of fire that was now black with ice blue gems and green flames, a cape that cascades from his shoulders to his ankles the color of infinite space with stars and galleries shimmering and shifting with every movement. Some might call him regale in this form, he would disagree.
Soon Fright Knight, Ghost Writer, and Clockwork were gathered in his office awaiting his orders.
"Since it seems this matter has slipped the minds of even the Observants, I need any and all material on how to reseal these races before more start to flee their home realms. I will also need a team put together to collect the scattered demons"
Ghost writer disappeared with his marching orders but Fright Knight only bowed and addressed his king again "My king I fear there will be some Demons that require your power"
"Very well Take Wulf with you and have him come get me if you find one I need to deal with"
"Yes my king"
And with that it was just Clockwork and his king.
"I'm not even going to ask why you didn't mention any of this before, I'll only ask that you teach me how to reseal the realms"
And with that the next few weeks passed by with even less sleep and even more chaos.
____________________
Batman wasn't having a good day, or even a good week. All over the known universe Demons were popping up at random. The JL and JLD were getting calls from all over reporting demons only to show up and some strange green glowing being had already taken care of them. The League was both thankful and wary of these beings, they never asked for anything and always left after the demons were sucked through what Constantine called a portal (to where was anyone's guess) Constantine called these being denizens of the infinite realms or "ghosts" if you wanted a shorter term for them.
He explained the infinite Realms by saying "the less we know about them the better! Let them take care of their own" when pushed for information he simply teleported away.
Batman had spent the week with RedRobin looking into Ghosts and the Infinite realms but turned up with almost nothing except some very biased articles saying Ghosts were non- sentient echos of human consciousness that can't feel pain. They also talked about ectoplasm being what Ghosts are made of and it being the only way to kill them.
Today the articles were proven wrong when a Demon showed up in the open pastures of New York, not far from large Cities, it was stronger then the group of beings could handle, one of the armored Ghosts was thrown into one of it teammates sending both of them crashing to the ground, the one who was thrown cried out in pain holding a hand to its now open armor and neon green blood like fluid gushed down its armor. A humanoid Wolf flew down, slashing a hole in time and space before dragging the wounded Ghosts through.
Superman and Batman were the first on site, arriving just before the Ghosts. They watched as the fight went South fast as the group of Ghosts were dwindling. The black armored Ghost was barely managing to hold the Demon off before he too was pulled through a portal leaving the two heros to watch as the Demon tore through the earth on its way to the nearest city. The heros could only manage to distract the Demon in hopes other heros would show up to assist.
The Demon had torn through miles of land before a new portal appeared above its head. This portal looked different. It wasn't the swirling green like before, it was black and seemed to suck all the light from its edges. The heros were expecting some huge monstrous beast to come out, but instead a small boy no older than 14 walked out like it was a normal Tuesday. He had the same eari green glow around him but wore black Cargo pants with a neon green and black hoodie with a stylized white D on the chest. His hood was down but he wore a black mask over the lower half of his face. His eyes were toxic green and his hair was white and seemed to lack any respect for gravity.
When the little ghost appeared the Demon stopped and watched the kid for a moment before letting out a roar that shook the earth and air. The kid seemed unfazed as he took a step toward the Demon.
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(By order of the Ghost king you are hereby ordered to return to you home realm or face punishment)
The language the kid spoke, because that all Batman could describe it as, was both eari and soothing to the soul. It warbled and weaved with sounds like whale calls and the ethereal sounds of a fairy song mixed with the undertone of ice fracturing.
The Demon responded with a low rumble seeming to shy away from the kid. The kid made no move to harm the creature until it lunged at him, claws slashing empty air and the kid disappeared only to reappear at its throat landing a punch that threw the creature back.
White Vans started appearing around the fight, guys dressed in all white suits with black sunglasses started pouring out aiming Sci-fi looking guns and the duo of beings. The two heros paid them no mind as they watched the fight continue, assuming they were here for the Demon.
Right as the kid readied another attack a green blast struck him in the shoulder eliciting a surprised yelp of pain from the kid. He turned and looked at the newcomers before rolling his eyes
"Oh, not you guys again! Can't you wait until I'm done with this guy?" The kid said with an exhausted sigh
"Phantom, under law of the Anti-Ecto acts you are to come with us-" one of the white suits shouts but is cut off by the kid, Phantom.
"Yeah yeah, you say they every time you see me, the Ghost king grows tired of you hunting him people. Watch yourselves lest he declare war" Batman made a mental note to look into those acts and bring this up with the rest of the league.
More green shots were fired but Phantom dodged them while still landing a hit on the Demon, Batman and Superman took to disarming the guys in white, until finally a large portal opened up behind the creature as Phantom punched it back into the portal.
As the portal closed Phantom watched to make sure it didn't try to get back out. Neither hero noticed the cannon on top of one of the Vans until it launched a glowing green net right at Phantom. The net wrapped itself around the boy's small frame as arches of green and blue electricity sparked across his body. The boy screamed, he sounded triffied and in immense pain. The boy fell from the sky crashing into the freshly turned earth with a thud and Crack, still screaming and writhing in pain.
Superman got between the white suits and the kid while Batman ran to the kid to free him from the net.
"Stand down Superman, we are well within our right to capture that Ecto-entity and dispose of it '' one of the guy stepped forward attempting to pass Superman only to be knocked back when Superman gave him a small push.
"Can't you see he just saved us? All you did was hinder his fight"
"It just wants you to think it's a hero so it can feed off of you. They are nothing more than Echos of human consciousness. It can't feel pain-"
"Then what do you call that!" Superman gestures to where Batman has the boy almost free from the net. The kid's face looks terrified while tears soak his cheeks and cries of pain can still be heard.
"It's just pretending-" one of them starts again until a Batarang Flies past his face narrowly missing his left eye.
"Your research has been proven wrong in the eyes of the Justice League today. You will not be laying a hand on this boy!" Batman left room for argument as he lifted the boy in his arms, he was still shaking and seemed dazed as he whimpered and whined in the older man's arms.
None of the league had ever been this close to one of these beings never-ending touching one. Batman could feel the kid's bones, he felt thin, the kid was cold but not painfully cold, the kid was breathing, there was a light pulse as well. Batman decided to look more into Ghosts, if they had a heart beat and needed to breathe then they were considered under the Meta Protection acts wholly.
More arguments were heard from the Againts but Batman was focused on the kid in his arms and getting him away from the threat. He was stopped in his tracks by a booming growl, he turned to see the Wolfman, teeth bared and hackles raised at the Againts.
"Where Friend!" He demanded
"I have him, He's safe" Batman stepped a bit closer hesitating to move too quickly.
The Wolfman turned to look at Batman and cleared the distance in the blink of an eye, he thrust his clawed hand out.
"Give!" He demanded
Batman gently placed the kid into the waiting arms. The Wolfman made a sound between a growl and a chirp, the kid stirred making a chirp sound back before opening his Lazarus colored eyes. He looked Batman over before looking at the Wolfman.
"Wulf, home" the boy weazed out
The Wolfman shook his head "No, Frostbite then sleep!" The boy nodded.
Batman watched as the duo walked back through a portal, he was just hoping "Frostbite" meant something different for Ghosts.