Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Come now, birdboy! You’re not going to sleep on me already, are you? The party’s just got started!”

Two minutes on the timer.

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As a child, Jason always had a feeling something was looking out for him. When Catherine got too sick to care for him, and Willis was gone on a long string of jobs just to keep a roof over their heads, Jason always managed better than one might expect.

He’d always have a shadow to hide in to avoid getting caught picking pockets, always know a safe shortcut to where he wants to go, even if he’s never been that way before, always know where to step to avoid any broken rungs on a fire escape ladder. He knew Gotham well, and to Jason it felt as if the city itself was looking out for him.

Then, after Catherine and Willis were gone and the streets became his home, Jason found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time—right place, right time?—and long story short, he became Robin, and now he was looking out for the city.

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“The bomb, Jason! Deactivate it!”

Five… four… three… two…

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Lady Gotham loves her city, and the people within it. Not the people who do her harm, but the people just trying to survive, the people trying to make her city better? Yeah, she loves her city and she loves her people. But she definitely has favorites. And her most favorite of all her citizens? That would be Jason Todd.

She can’t explain it, but something just drew her to the boy from the moment he was born. All of her citizens are hers, but Jason especially felt like he belonged in the very heart of her. The lack of blood relation aside, that boy is her son. So, as any good mother would, she protected him, always looked out for him.

And when Catherine and Willis were gone… she couldn’t bear to see her son on the streets for long. She led him to the right set of tires, and waited. Later, with her son soaring through her city’s skies, above the streets he once called home, looking out for her the best way he can, Lady Gotham was filled with pride.

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One…

“The door!! It’s locked!”

Zero.

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Lady Gotham’s protections only reach so far. When Jason left the city, he could feel that something was different, something was missing. Try as she might, Lady Gotham cannot protect what’s not in her domain.

When her son leaves, it’s worrisome. When he returns home, dead, it’s devastating.

It pours rain in Gotham for a week straight.

The weather only clears when the city spirit encounters the ghost of her son in the Infinite Realms, lost and confused, but home in a way where she can help him again.

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Jason’s eyes snap open, and he finds himself staring up at a haze of green.

“Wha—” he tries to sit up, but only ends up falling backwards, and that’s when he realizes there’s nothing beneath, that he was floating this whole time. Falling downwards head first, rather reminding himself of Icarus, Jason turns his head wildly from side to side, looking for anything to grab onto. That’s when he sees the wings. They’re black and red, and reminiscent of an angel’s.

With a bit of trial and error while still falling, Jason finally figures out how to spread his wings and catch himself in the air. Looking down at himself once he’s stopped plummeting, he notes that he’s still in his Robin costume, torn and singed from his death.

“What the fuck is going on?! Where the hell am I!!” He shouts to no one in particular, freaking out, confused and lost in whatever place this is.

Chapter Text

She finds him in the Infinite Realm’s version of Gotham City, of course she does. In a place so unfamiliar where everything is new, of course her son would find his way home before all else. If nothing else, Gotham City will always call out to its prince, guiding him home where he’ll be safe.

Finally having him home, Lady Gotham can once more protect him, guide him, and always know where he is within her city. She finds him in the Alley, sitting on top of the roof of his old apartment building. She notes the way his shoulders are shaking with silent sobs, her son wracked with grief for the loss of his own life. She settles on the roof and walks over to him, sitting down beside him.

“Hello, Jason. I’m sure you have questions, yes? Ask and I shall answer. But first…” she pulls him up against her gently, tucking him underneath a wing of her own, and runs a hand through his hair, “Welcome home, my little prince.”

“Who—” he sniffles, wiping away his tears, “Who are you?”

“I am Lady Gotham, the spirit of this city,”

“This isn’t the city I know, where— what is this place?”

“This is Gotham City, just… not the one in the realm of the living. We are in the Infinite Realms, or the Ghost Zone as it is called as well. It is a place for the dead, for the divine, for those created here. It is an unending land with much to discover. It is the realm between realms, and yet at the same time all the realms exist within it. Gotham City has its own place here, though it’s also quite different than the one you know. My palace, for one, only exists here in the Infinite Realms.”

“So I’m… I’m a ghost now, then?” He looks up at her, resignation visible in his eyes.

“Yes, my little prince, I’m afraid you are.”

“Why do you call me that?”

“Do you see this crown I wear? Though I do not use the title, for all intents and purposes I am the ruler of this city on account of I am this city. Thus, I am its queen. True Gotham royalty. And I have watched you from the moment you were born. You are the very heart of me, Jason. I claimed you as my son years ago, though I could not reveal myself then. But as you are my son, you are also this prince of this city.”

“All those years where the shadows would watch out for me… where I would know shortcuts I’ve never seen before… were those you? Looking out for me?”

“Yes. And I am so sorry I could not protect you from death, my son. My power only reaches so far, and you were out of my domain.”

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“Momma? How do I change this costume out for a different outfit— like, permanently. You said ghosts typically have a default, so how do I get a different default? I can’t… I don’t wanna keep wearing what I died in.” Jason asks her that morning as he passes by a mirror in one of the hallways.

It’s been two days since she found him on the rooftop. Two days since he became a ghost. She had brought him home, to her palace—their palace now, really, since it will be his home too—after their talk on that roof. He had called her momma for the first time just last night, already half asleep, on account of how natural it felt to do so. He might not have seen her physically before he died, but she was always caring for him like a mother would. He’s called her nothing else since, after she told him she’d be honored if he came to view her as a mother. A little quick, perhaps, but sincere on both their sides.

“It’s much simpler than you would expect,” Lady Gotham tells him, “You only need to picture what you would to be wearing, and then anchor the image of it to your core, replacing your former default, typically your outfit at death as yours currently is, with what you want your new default to be.”

“You’re fucking kidding me, right? It’s really just… wish really hard for a different outfit and you’ll get it?” Jason says incredulously.

Lady Gotham laughs, “It’s a bit more tricky than that, little prince. It takes work to manipulate your core, after all. Here, allow me to try and explain a little better—”

It takes all day, but in the end Jason is able to replace his Robin costume with a red hoodie and a pair of jeans. He doesn’t think he wants it to be his default forever. Maybe something a little cooler, later on. Or maybe he can leave this and find out if multiple defaults to switch between are a thing? Later, though. Working with his newly formed core was pretty exhausting.

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His momma gives him a crown to match her own just before he leaves their palace for the first time since he arrived to it. She insisted on it, saying that as her son, as her prince, he deserved to have something to show it. So, on the crown went, floating above his head.

Now, Jason and Lady Gotham are getting ready to go and meet one of her friends. It’s been a few days since Jason settled into the palace, and Lady Gotham thought he finally had a good enough grasp on the whole… being dead and being a ghost thing… to go out and be introduced to others.

So of course the first person she decided to introduce him to was her good friend Pandora. Jason manages to endear himself to Pandora effortlessly by just being himself, asking her all sorts of questions about the Acropolis of Athens, and what sort of history facts she could share with him.

It’s good to see her son talk so freely and excitedly. The past few days have been hard on him as he came to terms with his death.

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Jason explores the palace library and reads through everything that catches his eye and then some in a matter of just a few days. Well, not the entire library, that would take him far longer to get through—though he plans to eventually—but a good chunk of it. And as Lady Gotham takes note of what makes her son happy, she adds reading to the list and takes him to a place she knows he’ll love. It’s the Library of Infinity, from the outside it looks just like the Library of Alexandria had looked before its burning, but on the inside it’s far, far more expansive, and it contains every book, every scroll, every written work from the Infinite Realms and the realms it connects to as well.

As expected, Jason spent hours upon hours in that library. Lady Gotham is glad to see her little prince having fun, but that is also the same time she comes to the conclusion that he could use a friend closer to his age.

And she knows just who to introduce him to.

Chapter Text

Danny was very confused, and admittedly a little worried. Lady Gotham requested a meeting with him. It wouldn’t be so strange, the citizens of the realms request meetings with their high king all the time now that the title is Danny’s, both informal ones and formal meetings, except… Lady Gotham never requests meetings. Ever. With anyone.

She’s perfectly kind and helpful, but Lady Gotham is also… ah, reclusive as hell compared to many ghosts and spirits within the realms. If Lady Gotham is needed, you have to seek her out. For her to be reaching out for a meeting? It has Danny on edge wondering just what kind of scenario would make Lady Gotham reach out first. You’d need to be a very close friend of hers for that to happen and for it not to be a major deal, and Danny is not a close friend of hers yet.

So here Danny is, trying not to worry as he waits in his keep for Lady Gotham to arrive— and apparently, her guest as well? She mentioned a guest when requesting this meeting.

Distantly, he can hear voices approaching.

“…is so big! It’s like a maze in here.” The voice belongs to someone young, and probably male, so definitely not Lady Gotham.

“It’s no more a maze than our palace, little prince.” Lady Gotham’s voice responds to whoever this ‘little prince’ is.

“Well yeah, but I know our palace, it’s home! I know everything about home without even trying. This place though… yeesh, I could get lost in here!”

The voices are even closer now, Danny can hear them just outside the door to the meeting room he’s in— and not one of those uncomfortable, plastic chair, bright white lights type of meeting rooms in the large businesses, no, this is a cozy one with cushioned chairs and a fireplace and an infinitely full teapot.

The door opens, and Lady Gotham is the first one to step into the room, followed by a teen in a red hoodie and jeans, with a crown above his head that matches the one Lady Gotham is wearing. He’s got white hair and red eyes, and black and red feathered wings. And he’s pretty, too, Danny notes.

“Lady Gotham,” Danny greets her with a nod, “What’s u—uhh to what do I owe the pleasure?” He corrects himself, remembering that as the high king, it’s important to at least try and uphold some form of properness, at the very least when he’s greeting someone he’s meeting.

Lady Gotham just raises an eyebrow, amused at his correction, “Good afternoon, High King Phantom. I’d like to introduce you to my son, a new citizen of the realms. This is Jason, Prince of Gotham City. I had hoped to request your help in guiding my son through the adjustment period that comes with being a new ghost, and at such a young age too.”

“Oh—” Danny isn’t sure what he expected from this meeting, but it wasn’t that. Not that he’s complaining, this is actually not a bad reason at all for Lady Gotham to have requested a meeting. And he’s happy to help her son—uh, Jason, she said?—adjust. From the sound of it, he died pretty damn recently, and he looks just a little younger than Danny is now. “Yeah of course! I’d be happy to. It’s nice to meet you, Jason!”

“Nice to meet you too, uh— Phantom, was it? Uhm, your majesty?” Jason responds, clearly very unsure how to address the High King of the Infinite Realms.

“Ugh, definitely not ‘your majesty,’ please. I get enough of that already— Phantom works, or you can just call me Danny.” He smiles.

“Alright then, Danny,” Jason nods and smiles back at him. “So if Danny is your name, then what's up with the Phantom name?”

“Ah, basically an alias, I mainly use it when I’m fulfilling specifically and very officially my duties as the High King, or when I’m, y’know, out saving the people in my hometown.” Danny answers.

“Oh so you’re a king and a hero then? Wow, you really do it all, Danny,” Jason grins at him.

“You have no room to talk, oh great Prince of Gotham,” Danny teases.

“Mhm, guess not, ‘specially since I was a hero too,” Jason comments.

“Really? You were? Which hero? Wait— Gotham City, young… were you Robin?” Danny guesses.

“Yeah, that was me, till I… well, till I ended up here…”

“Oh, uh, yeah I guess dying would put a damper on that… sorry, man. Dying young fucking sucks,” Danny offers.

Jason laughs, harsh and self deprecating, “Yeah, yeah it really does.”

“…alright, well then Prince Robin—”

“Oh? I get to have a ghostly royalty alias now? Is that a thing for dead royal heroes?” Jason interrupts with a grin.

“It is now, on account of I said so, and I can do that because I’m king so— yes, you get a ‘ghostly royalty alias.’” Danny grins right back at him.

“Well alright then Phantom, if you say so— but, not… not Robin. I loved being Robin and I’ll always carry it close to my heart but… I died as Robin, I don’t think I want to keep using the name in death, I mean I definitely couldn’t keep wearing the costume in death… so, I think I need a new alias,” Jason tilts his head a bit as he speaks, as if he’s thinking out loud.

“Of course,” Danny says, less teasing as he has been and more sincere, “…I think Phoenix would suit you.” And he does think that. Jason seems resilient, he’s handling his death with a lot of grace and going with the flow even though Danny knows from personal experience just how weird it all is at the beginning. From what he remembers about Phoenixes, they’re resilient too, a symbol of renewal, rising from the ashes. And, it’s a bird, to keep a little piece of Robin close.

“Phoenix… hm, y’know I haven’t exactly been reborn from any ashes. Kinda the opposite, in fact,” Jason raises an eyebrow at his choice.

“Still suits you. You seem resilient, Jason. So, you accept the alias or not?”

“I suppose I can use Phoenix as my ‘ghostly royalty alias,’ if you insist, your majesty,” Jason teases.

“Hey now birdboy, I told you not to call me ‘your majesty,’” Danny protests, and he doesn’t miss the way Jason freezes up at being called ‘birdboy,’ “Ah— sorry, bad memories with that nickname?”

“Yeah uh… real bad memories… like, death related memories with that nickname,”

“Shit, then I’m really sorry, Jason.”

“Nah, it’s okay, you— you didn’t know.”

They sit in silence for a moment, and during that time Danny realizes that at some point while they were distracted talking with each other, Lady Gotham must’ve slipped out.

“So…” Jason breaks the silence, “…any uh, tips for me? On figuring out the whole ‘being a ghost’ thing?”

“Oh, plenty,” Danny smiles, “So first things first, you’ll want to—”

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Jason and Danny figure out pretty quickly that Jason is a very powerful ghost. Not quite as powerful as Danny himself is—but then, there’s really not any ghosts that are, aside from Ellie—but still pretty damn powerful. Oh, and in addition to the typical ghostly abilities, he’s also got umbrakinesis— like Danny’s own cryokinesis but with shadows! It’s really cool.

It did freak Jason out a bit when he learned about the whole ‘being able to project emotions and basic thoughts’ thing.

“I’m sorry, what do you mean everyone’s been able to feel my emotions and hear what I’ve been thinking since I haven’t learned to control it yet?!”

Yeah uh… he had Danny teach him how to control it right then and there once he found out, not stopping until he got the hang of it so he wasn’t accidentally projecting all the time to everyone.

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“Okay, I think I’ve finally gotten the hang of it!” Jason cheers.

‘It’ being going intangible without becoming tangible again on accident while still stuck halfway through a wall or object…

“Nice!” Danny smiles, “Now try bringing your shadows into it, it would be so cool if you made it look like you melted through the floor in a puddle of shadows, or something,”

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“Do I have to, momma?” Jason groans as if he’s being led to a fate worse than death.

“I’m afraid so, little prince,” Lady Gotham smiles at her son’s dramatics.

“But whyyyyyy?”

“Because you have been here for just over a month now, and it is customary that, as a prince, you have an introductory gala so that you may meet the others of the Infinite Realms, and they may officially meet you.”

“Isn’t it enough that I was introduced to the High King? Do I reallyyyyy need an introductory gala?”

“Yes,” Lady Gotham says firmly. “Now go on, put on something a little nicer, dear. Jeans and a hoodie will not do for this event.”

With many complaints, Jason does dress up much more nicely, wearing some black suit pants with a well fitting burgundy button up shirt. He drew the line at wearing a suit jacket or a tie, though.

Normally, he wouldn’t complain about having to dress nicely, but he is this time on account of he doesn’t want to go to this gala.

Even though he didn’t want to be there, the evening goes smoothly and he finds himself enjoying it when he gets to spend most of the night with Danny by his side as he meets a bunch of other citizens of the Realms.

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The moment Jason gets a good grasp on his invisibility and his portaling between the Infinite Realms and the realm of the living, he’s off to go be a dramatic little bitch and annoy Danny at school, because Danny, being 17 years old—two years older than Jason is—is still finishing up his senior year at Casper High. Which— can Jason just say how fucking hilarious he finds that school name?

But anyways. He’s heard Danny talk about his friends in the living realm often enough that he’s been wanting to meet them for a little bit now, and Jason is nothing if not dramatic, so here he is, invisibly sneaking into Casper High to find Danny and bother him— without exposing Danny as Phantom to his entire school, of course.

And that was a whole other shock he got the other day— he had thought when Danny spoke about his friends and family in the living realm and how he would go see them that he meant he went as a ghost, but apparently Danny is something called a halfa. So, to say Jason was surprised would be an understatement. Danny really didn’t explain much about it and that’s fine by Jason, he’s quickly picked up on the fact that if something is personal to a ghost, it’s better to let them open up about it rather than prying it out of them. Oh— and he’s also learned that talking about a ghost’s death when they don’t start the conversation? A big no no.

Making his way through the halls of Casper High, Jason can’t help but get sad thinking about what he’s missing out on. He’s only 15 years old, he should still be in high school too. But instead he’s dead, and it’s all the way, not halfway like Danny.

He pushes that aside though as he finds Danny’s classroom, and goes intangible to slip through the door, still invisible. Danny of course somehow clocks him immediately despite that, so Jason projects a wave CameToSayHi-MissedYou-WantToMeetFriends-IntroduceAfterClass? to him.

He gets back a projection of DramaQueen-HelloToYouToo-MissedYou-Sure-GoAwayNow-NeedFocusClass that makes him have to hold back a laugh at Danny’s obvious fond exasperation for his antics.

Meeting Sam and Tucker later that day goes well, which Jason is glad for. He and Danny are friends now but he knows if Danny’s friends that he’s had much longer didn’t like him then Jason could say goodbye to having any closer of a friendship with Danny, and he’d really like a closer friendship with him.

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Jason has been dead for around three and a half months now. Why’s this relevant? Well, if he hadn’t died, then he would currently be out to dinner with Bruce, Dick, Babs, and Alfred celebrating his birthday. But, because he died, that’s not happening today. Happy fucking sweet sixteen to him, he gets to spend this birthday dead.

It’s not all bad, of course, he’s happy to be celebrating with his momma and with Danny too, and Pandora came by to wish him a happy birthday as well, it’s just… really odd to be celebrating a birthday as a dead teen.

Jason guesses he’s gonna have to get used to it though, considering… well, he’ll be dead forever since there doesn’t seem to be any indication of that changing.

Chapter Text

Jason is… a bit confused on how he got here— here being a training room in Danny’s palace, weird glow-y nightmare dimension sword in hand as Fright Knight shouts instructions at him.

Okay, let’s go back a few weeks—

Jason had been hanging out with Danny in his palace, the two of them fooling around together, when a ghost with actual malicious intentions had gotten in and decided to try attacking Danny.

Emphasis on try, because they didn’t get very far at all. Fright Knight hadn’t even needed to step nor did Danny have to lift a finger to defend himself before Jason had the ghost restrained in his shadows.

Apparently, Fright Knight took that as a sign that he can finally retire from being the main knight of the High King, because he immediately asked Jason if he’d like to be trained to take over.

He explained the job to Jason, how he won’t be expected to be at Danny’s side all the time, but he will be expected to answer a call from his High King at any moment no matter what else he’s doing at the time. And of course, when he is at Danny’s side he’ll be expected to protect him or help him in any fight he’s engaged in. Something Jason would have done anyways, so he accepts Fright Knight’s offer.

So okay, maybe he’s not all that confused on how he got here. But he hadn’t realized the Soul Shredder was a High King’s knight thing and not a Fright Knight specific thing, so he certainly wasn’t expecting to have to learn how to handle it.

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“Danny, your knight is trying to kill me!”

“You’re already dead, Jason,” Danny laughs.

“Well he wants me even more dead, clearly!” Jason groans dramatically. “I shouldn’t have agreed to become your new knight so he can retire from the position,”

“What, you don’t want to protect me? I see how it is,” Danny teases.

“Ah, you know I’d do anything for you,” Jason waves his hand dismissively, but he means the words he says. “But this is getting ridiculous! I swear, half of this can’t even be real training. It’s gotta just be his way of sending me to a second grave!”

“Good luck with that,” Danny snorts.

“You have no sympathy. I’m feeling real betrayed, your majesty,” Jason jokes.

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Months go by before Fright Knight deems him ready to officially take over as the High King’s knight, and when it’s finally time…

“A ceremony?! Oh come on! Do I have to?”

“Yes.” Fright Knight answers, unamused at Jason’s complaints.

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“...here today to wish Fright Knight well in his retirement after many long years in service as the knight of the High King of the Infinite Realms, and to welcome the new knight of the High King: Prince Jason, Phoenix of Gotham. May you serve High King Phantom well as his Shadow Knight, and…”

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“That ceremony went on forever, huh,” Jason groans, but the smile on his face shows he doesn’t really mind.

“Oh absolutely,” Danny agrees, “That’s how a lot of ceremonies go here, though. No one is really in a rush if you’ve already died, I guess.”

“Yeah that checks out,” Jason huffs out a laugh.

“You know… Fright Knight was a good knight, but if I had to have someone at my side, I’m glad it’s you, Jason,” Danny says sincerely, a soft smile on his face.

“No place I’d rather be,” Jason responds with a soft smile of his own.

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Jason goes to bother Danny in the realm of the living again, and finds him in the middle of committing a heinous crime against anyone with good taste.

“What the fuck Danny.”

“What’s the problem? It’s just noodles,” Danny shrugs.

“Just noo— no. Nope. Nuh uh. Those are not ‘just noodles,’ those are the shittiest instant noodles I have ever seen in my entire life—”

“—what about in your entire death—” Danny jokes, but Jason ignores him, continuing his rant.

“—and it is a crime that you are eating them. Danny, as your knight, it is my job to protect you. So! I will do my job, by banning those noodles from ever being around me again, and you will be getting rid of those now, and I will make you better food.”

“Jay—”

“If the next thing out of your mouth isn’t ‘Yes, Jason, I’ll take care of it right now, I bow towards your superior wisdom in the ways of food,’ or something similar, then I don’t wanna hear it,” Jason says, dramatically stubbornly.

Danny laughs, “Alright then, I bow to your superior food knowledge, oh great prince of Gotham,”

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“You know,” Jason says as he and Danny are laying about in the library of the Gotham palace, “I’m really glad my momma introduced us.”

It has been about six months since then, and they’ve been some of the happiest months of Jason’s life… ah, death— oh whatever, they’re some of the happiest months he can remember, in life and in death.

“Me, too,” Danny smiles at him, “Jay, I… I’ve really enjoyed all this time with you. All this time with you by my side… I like it. I like you.”

“Danny… are you— are you saying what I think you are?” Jason asks with a small, hopeful smile.

“If you think I’m saying that I’d like to take you out on a date and see how it goes between us, then yes. So… can I take you on a date, starlight?” Danny asks, a little nervous and a lot hopeful, with a tilted head and a sweet smile.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Jason grins, wide and joyful.